My Regime - Dogmas

Koen W. : The name of Swedish singer/songwriter Spice probably will ring a bell to some readers. Between 1993 and 2001 he was a member of the Spiritual Beggars and did vocals and bass on their first four albums. According to the accompanying biography 'Dogmas' is a furious thrash album and is the most aggressive Spice ever has made. He needed to ventilate his ever increasing anger. Anger induced by the Swedish government that has been busy throwing away the last few years what the Swedish people took ages to build up. Although My Regime is only a few months old they almost immediately got signed by the Italian label Scarlet Records that recently released their debut album.

Unlike at the Spiritual Beggars Spice is now doing the guitar work now, and that Spice is angry becomes frighteningly clear. You get almost forty minutes of furious thrash metal that literary reeks of anger and aggression. The first name that pops up while listening to My Regime is (of course) Slayer. The short heavy riffs and fast dual lead guitars are partly responsible for this, but especially the vocals from Spice really remind you of Tom Araya. Yet My Regime has not become a Slayer clone. The material on the album is simply album is too strong to be written-off as clone, and the musicians are too good. After a short intro opener 'A.A.' is hurled at you, and it's full throttle all the way, but without compromising on quality. A first highlight is delivered with 'Electric Nightingale’, which through the use of a second refined lead guitar and hard riffs is pushed to a high level. Also 'Accretion' can be counted as one off the better songs due its solid structure, strong chorus vocals and strong guitar solos. Such another top song is ‘The Fake Breeze Of Summer', though this time the band uses a slower pace which works wonders for the feeling of menace and malice they are looking to create.

Hopefully (and probably, as long as Sweden continues to sell itself out) Spice's anger will be fueled for a long time, so he keeps on making these kind of albums in the coming future. Fans of furious thrash will thank him for it.